SC Disaster Volunteers Help Throughout Nation

The South Carolina region of the American Red Cross has 43 disaster volunteers all over the country.

Author:
wltx

Published:
7:19 PM EDT October 3, 2017

Columbia, SC (WLTX) Disaster volunteers from our state are all over the nation helping in Las Vegas as well as victims of the recent hurricanes.

“You do wonder where are we going to get more volunteers,” Beth Shwedo with the American Red Cross said.

Shwedo said the South Carolina region has 43 disaster volunteers all over the country.

“Busy, to say the least, normally we're prepared to respond to two major disasters,” Shwedo explained.

With three major hurricanes and a mass shooting is not something anyone expects.

“However Red Cross has risen to the challenge of having to respond to more right now we have people deployed in Texas, and in Florida, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and Las Vegas,” she said.

The workers are doing the best they can helping with shelters, food, water, mental health care, medical needs and spiritual assistance.

“People in Las Vegas are traumatized in ways that most of us can never even imagine besides the senseless violence,” American Red Cross Volunteer Holli Emore said. “You have people who have become separated from their families or spouses. They're still waiting on notifications of how their loved ones are, a lot of chaos. It's a crime scene. There will be people in the hospital for a while, so there's a lot of emotional need there.”

Holli Emore is a disaster spiritual care lead. She is in Las Vegas helping the victims and their families impacted by the deadly shooting that killed more than 50 people and injured hundreds more.

“The spiritual care responders will be comforting people. We will lead memorial service probably, assist people with funeral arrangements, just visit people in the hospitals, visit people in the shelters,” Emore added.

The Palmetto South Carolina Region of the American Red Cross has a total of 43 volunteers helping with different disasters across the country.